Arts and Craftiness
by The Genius Mage
Summary: Shiki was annoyed out of her wits. Why was Joshua following her! One sided JoshuaxShiki. Yeah, I went there.


Arts and Craftiness

_**Oh no, it's the unholy impossibility of a Joshua and Shiki story. Don't hurt me! =)**_

_*******_

Shiki was walking around the arts and crafts store, trying to find just the right color to fix a small tear on Mr. Mew's ear.

The stuffed animal was resting in the shopping basket hanging on her arm, while she casually checked the colored cloths sitting on the rack.

One shade was _too _black, if that was possible. The others were kind of grayish. Shiki sighed, blowing a strand of hair from her face.

"We'll find something, Mr. Mew." She said more to herself than her stuffed animal, whose head had just lolled to the side.

Shiki's fingers brushed against a roll of fabric. She unrolled it, checking the color, comparing it to her cat.

"Perfect!" She squealed, upsetting an old lady who ended up spilling everything from her basket. With a sheepish grin, Shiki quickly helped her get everything back into the container.

"I'm sorry." She apologized, putting down her basket for a moment. "I really am."

The lady just shook her head. "No harm done." Shiki stood up; crossing her arms and pushing her glasses back up.

"Okay, Mr. Mew. Time to-eek!" She rushed over, staring around. Where was her basket?!

More importantly, where was Mr. Mew?!

Before panic could completely destroy her composure, she caught a flash of black from the corner of her eyes. She whirled around, eyes narrowing when she saw her basket laying on a table, and someone casually tossing her precious cat in the air.

"Joshua!" She hissed, storming toward him. "Give him back!"

Joshua smirked, holding Mr. Mew at arm's length, studying it. "Forgive me, but I don't understand why he means so much to you." He raised an eyebrow, watching her face redden in anger.

"Give him back! I made him myself!" She reached for the cat, only to have him stand on the tips of his feet, holding his arm up high. His face was directly in hers, and Shiki froze, staring into his eyes, arms still stretched toward her precious cat.

Joshua's grin widened, but he pulled back and handed her Mr. Mew. "My apologies, dear Shiki."

Shiki held the cat tight, turning around. "You deserve to apologize!" She grumbled about jerks messing with her stuff, then picked her basket up and started measuring the amount of cloth she would need to fix Mr. Mew's ear.

Unfortunately, Joshua didn't leave. He sauntered over, watching Shiki measure the cloth.

Her hand was pulling on the roller the fabric was connected to, eyes narrowed in concentration, not really paying attention to him. Unexpectedly, Joshua placed his hand on hers; pulling back the fabric so she had a little less than before.

She blushed, feeling his breath on her ear. "That's the right amount, I think."

"Um…yeah. Thanks." Shiki said abruptly, cutting off the amount she needed. She turned to walk down the aisle, checking for anything else she might need, but to her mounting annoyance Joshua kept following her.

"What?" She demanded, turning around. He gave her an innocent look.

"I'm not allowed to look at the items on display here?" He gestured around to the multiple arts and crafts lying around.

"Why are you following _me_?" Shiki said, exasperated.

He smirked again. "That's only your massive ego talking; I'm hardly following you around, dear Shiki."

Shiki sighed, checking some of the button eyes on display, ranging from dozens of different colors. She absentmindedly touched Mr. Mew to make sure he was still there, her thoughts actually elsewhere.

_Why is he following me? What game is he playing at?_

They walked around the store, Joshua following her every step. Whenever she stopped to look at him, he would be casually facing something else.

Shiki ended up buying some material for clothes, along with the fabric for Mr. Mew's torn ear. She got in line, checking her wallet. She had enough to get the stuff, and enough to get lunch later…

Shiki placed her basket on the counter, pulling out Mr. Mew and tucking him under her arm.

"Did you make him?" asked the cashier, studying the cat. Shiki beamed.

"I did."

"He's adorable, what a cute kitty." She cooed.

"Thank you." Shiki felt pleased with herself, since apparently only Neku called him a pig…

Shiki was about to hand the lady the money when Joshua cut in front of her, placing the cash in the cashier's hand.

"Allow me." He smiled at Shiki, eyes twinkling. Shiki felt stunned, closing her wallet, and taking the bag which she slung over her arm.

"What are you playing at?" She hissed, stepping outside the store. Joshua just smiled.

"Why do you always suspect me of foul play, Shiki? I'm better than that."

"Fine. Okay. Thank you." She said grudgingly. She decided to head to the WildKat for something to drink, walking down the street. To her horror, Joshua started following her again.

"Would you be interested in having lunch with me?"

Shiki froze, staring over her shoulder. "What?"

"Just a friendly lunch. I'll even pay it." He grinned.

Shiki sighed. "Will you stop stalking me if I do?"

"Perhaps. At least for today. Would it make you feel better if I was watching you in the UG?"

Shiki buried her face in her hands. "Fine, where are we going?"

She couldn't _believe _she was going to lunch with Joshua.

"My best guess is you are heading to the WildKat, correct? I'll eat there." He replied, his tone smug in victory.

Shiki started to walk, and he sped his steps up to walk beside her. He kept glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes, smiling whenever she noticed and kept meeting his gaze.

_I hope Neku and the others are there._

Or maybe it would be better if they weren't.

Joshua opened the door for her, bowing. "Please, after you."

Shiki stuck her tongue out at him and walked inside, immediately relaxing in the familiar atmosphere. Joshua smirked at her again. "I'll go get the drinks."

She told him what she wanted, then leaned back in the chair and looked around.

_Please, please don't let this turn into an awkward thing. _

Joshua came back, sitting across from her, offering her the drink. She took a sip of it, unable to resist asking him a question.

"Why are you talking to me?"

"Do I bother you that much?" he asked, stirring his drink.

"Well, not really, but you don't seem like the 'hang out' type."

Joshua nodded, looking at her. "To be honest, I wanted to see you. When one is having a down day, I find you're a cheery person to be with. _Normally._ However, I seem to irritate you."

Shiki smiled slightly. "You only irritate me because you take forever to get to the point."

He leaned back, looking thoughtful. "I _do _take forever, don't I? Want me to get to the point?"

"That'd be nice, yeah. Eri and I are hanging out in about fifteen minutes." Shiki hugged her cat tight. "And I still have to fix Mr. Mew."

Joshua looked at something behind her, smiling. His eyes seemed to be fixed on something else. Before Shiki could turn around to look, he gently grabbed her face and kissed her.

She froze at first; unable to believe this guy was _kissing _her. His tongue actually touched the edges of her lips, and she wasn't sure if she was repulsed or not by that. She was surprised by the intensity in the kiss, as she didn't think it was something the Composer did. She let him kiss her, too stunned to do much else, when suddenly the strange but beautiful moment was broken.

SLAM!

Neku stormed in, flanked by Rhyme and Beat, staring hard at Joshua.

Rhyme hid behind a confused Beat. "Awkward." She said.

"What are-"Neku paused, staring at everything. "Shiki?" he asked in confusion.

Shiki smoothed her hair down, blushing, but Joshua just leaned back and smirked.

"I'm going to kill you!" Neku snapped, diving for Joshua, who vacated his chair in time to dodge the angry teen.

Shiki grabbed Mr. Mew, watching Neku tackle Joshua again, and left quickly.

***

Several hours later, someone rang the doorbell to her house. Shiki opened the door, staring at the visitor.

"Haven't you caused enough damage for today?" She said angrily, considering slamming the door on Joshua.

He smirked, not a hair out of place. "You forgot this." He handed her the bag from the arts and crafts store. She took it quickly, curtly saying, "Thank you."

Joshua placed his foot in the crack between the doorway before she could slam it.

"I enjoyed the day with you. See you soon," Then he turned and left. Shiki turned around, placing her back to the doorway, hugging Mr. Mew, and dropping the bag.

Something gold glinted and caught her eye. Bending down, she removed from within the bag a folded piece of paper, and a necklace with a golden chain. An incredible likeliness of Mr. Mew served as a pendant, made from obsidian. The paper had Joshua's name, address, and phone number.

Shiki opened her cell phone, and selected the contact list.

She added his number.

***

_**How was it? Good, bad, or okay, let me know.**_


End file.
